[cartoons] Steve Bell On 30 Years Of Political Cartooning At The Guardian … ‘Nick Clegg, a rather poor clone of Cameron, who in turn is a tribute act to Blair, who is himself channelling Thatcher. And who was she channelling? Her father, Alderman Roberts, the grocer of Grantham town? Winston Churchill? Adolf Hitler? Beelzebub? Who can say?’

[politics] Steve Bell’s Political Cartoons of the Year … On David Cameron: ‘By way of a bonus, Cameron does not favour the depiction. He came up to me at a Spectator party at the Tory conference in October, and asked me how long I was going to carrry on with it, before advising me: “You can only push a condom so far”.’

[politics] Dear Ed Miliband – My Cruel Cartoons Will Hurt Me More Than You … ‘He has huge potential for caricature. Like John Prescott and unlike Tony Blair, his face tends to betray what is on his mind. Most politicians put on a guarded expression, but his face is more open and seems to let his feelings show. He has been caught gurning a couple of times, and looked like a rabbit caught in headlights just before the result was announced.’

[comics] Steve Bell Interviewed … ‘For all that his politics may be congenial to Guardian readers, there’s something about Bell’s style that doesn’t seem to sit too well with the paper’s generally earnest attitude. “I did used to get quite a number of disapproving letters, though these days I don’t – I get emails slagging me off instead” he says. “It has been said that I’m the kind of Id of the Guardian, running around waving my arms in the air while everyone else is having these deliberations. I don’t know, to be honest”.’ [thanks Phil]

So should we tread warily, lest we are misunderstood? Of course we should. Cartoonists are some of the most painstaking, careful, shy and sensitive people on earth, yet we do play with fire, toying with other people’s (and of course our own) most deeply held beliefs and most cherished illusions. Is it possible to go too far? Of course it is? Should we go too far? Of course we should. That’s what makes our job so interesting. There’s no better feeling than, having taken a risk in a drawing, seeing the thing in print and knowing it works. The converse is also true, which is why I work in a bunker on the south coast.

[comics] Getting Blair — Steve Bell on Drawing Tony Blair … ‘I was on the top deck of a Blackpool tram when I bumped into George Pope, a Labour party stalwart I’d not seen for some years. “I don’t think much of your Blair,” he said. “You haven’t got him yet, have you?” Moments like these are difficult for the sensitive professional. While I have no right to expect the world to fall at my feet, chortling gratefully at each new offering, this was impugning my professional integrity, which is like laughing at my penis, only worse. The trouble was he was right. Cartooning is a kind of performance art for furtive exhibitionists, and you’re only ever as good as your last performance.’

[comics] Steve Bell interviews Robert Crumb … ‘We live in a different world now – we got too much fun, too many distractions. I don’t believe in fun. I’m too obsessive-compulsive to have fun. Fun’s for normal people. Sometimes I look around at a party and I go, “Look at those jerks over there, actually having fun.” That’s incredible. They’re so fucking well adjusted that they’re enjoying this situation with the loud music and too many people. To me, there are so many existential factors that are so deeply disturbing about that scene that I couldn’t possibly imagine how people have fun at something like that.’ [Related: G2 in Crumbland]

[comics] ‘A feast of ink lay in wait’ — Steve Bell on Robert Crumb … ‘His style is dirty, utterly realistic, yet strangely innocent. It has a documentary quality that enables him to tackle any subject head on. I was young and impressionable so I tried to draw like him. I’ve been trying ever since and never quite succeeded, which is probably just as well.’

[royalty] Prince Charles: ‘What is wrong with people nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far above their capabilities? This is all to do with the learning culture in schools. It is a consequence of a child-centred education system which tells people they can become pop stars, high court judges or brilliant TV presenters or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary work or having the natural ability. It is a result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically engineered to contradict the lessons of history.’

[politics] A Hard Line on Bush — Steve Bell visits an Editorial Cartoonists Convention in America … ‘Watching Fox makes you realise just how rampant the right is at the moment, and reading the New York Times, a supposedly great liberal newspaper, makes you wonder if they would ever say boo to a goose, let alone tell truth to power. It seems dull, ponderous and timid. It’s also one of the few major papers without its own editorial cartoonist. It runs syndicated stuff, but that’s not the same thing. Having its own editorial cartoonist is at least a sign that a paper is prepared to put somebody’s nose out of joint now and again.’

[politics] ‘If only we had known back then’ — Steve Bell on Edwina Currie and John Major … ‘It’s not often that I actually gurgle with delight, but I must confess that is exactly what happened when I awoke to the news of Edwina Currie’s affair with John Major. Having spent so many years drawing Major as a hapless gawk with his Aertex Y-fronts always worn outside his dull, charcoal-grey suit I was faced with the fact that he was also a sex-romping superstud who could keep it up for at least three hours (according to the News of the World).’

[politics] Steve Bell in Brighton — Tuesday and Wednesday … ‘Blair sweeps in, looking serious, determined, resolved and orange. It’s been niggling in the back of my mind as to why everybody on stage at this conference seems to be orange. It must be a combination of the lighting effects and the backdrop. Or perhaps they’ve all been inoculated against chemical attack with Sunny Delight.’ [Related:Archive of Steve Bell Cartoons]

[politics] Anne Widdecombe checks out… Steve Bell’s view and Simon Hoggart’s…. ‘We have lost her from the high seas; no more will we gaze at the billowing sails, the ensign fluttering proudly from her poop deck! And what made it perfect was that she went down with her guns firing – specifically at Michael Portillo, a pocket battleship which made the terrible mistake of approaching her broadside. Crump! “I don’t believe that Michael Portillo is the right person to lead the Conservative party!” Thump! “This is nothing personal, all I can say is, that this is what I sincerely believe!” Nothing personal? She loathes him. “I don’t want today to turn into personal denigration of Michael Portillo,” she added, to the sound of a 12″ gun slamming into foot-thick steel. This means, in translation, “I want you all to take it personally”.’

[politics] Steve Bell on Thatcher and Hague… here’s a report on Thatcher’s speech. ‘Earlier, as she greeted the audience at Plymouth Pavilion she said: “I was told beforehand my arrival was unscheduled, but on the way here I passed a local cinema and it turns out you were expecting me after all. The billboard read The Mummy Returns.”‘